For all my creepy kittens and ghoulish guys, I happily present the work of Joe Vaux.

First, a tiny complaint. What is it with artists and hip designers making their entire site flash-based? While flash-flooded sites are entertaining for a moment (I did enjoy the little critters waving at me on Vaux's site), it can make for tedious navigation (terrible from an accessibility standpoint). Tip for when you visit his site: the barely-visible button to turn off the sound is in the top left corner.

All this was forgiven once I got to the good stuff: his art.

Vaux's work reminds me of Salvador Dali meets Disney's Night on Bald Mountain. There's loads going on visually and so many characters to discover in one piece.

Currently, it doesn't look like you can buy King Skully (pictured left) or Little Pilot Skullington (pictured below).

But if you're determined to purchase something and are looking for gift ideas (I like to pretend everyone wants to buy me presents), I'll take the limited print of Their Day Will Come showcasing a wine-swigging cockroach atop a skull, exclaiming "Marvellous!".

While my props don't usually see the light of day, I make it a point to bring them outside near the end of completion. Sunshine is an unapologetic critic; it shows all the warts (and not the good kind like you find on witches).

It's amazing how different a prop looks in the daylight.

I use this time to scrutinize him. I note elements that worked in low light but fail when spotlighted. I then decide how much I will adjust it.

I am over the moon with how the dog fur looks on him. I think it's the best idea I've ever had. Hands down. While I'm sure it's been done before, I've never seen anyone else use this technique, so there was an undercurrent of hesitation under my enthusiasm as I glued the pieces on. I promise to include more pictures that showcase his fur.

I don't want to ruin how he looks in darker environments, but I want him to hold up when there's no hiding in shadow. This is especially true for Marmota Monax because I think he'll be living a lot of his life in the light.

David MacDowell describes his art as a fun-loving poke at consumerism, pop culture and the cult of personality. His newest show is called The Sins of Atticus Finch, and I love the piece "Parents Just Don't Understand" (pictured right).

Note the mockingbirds on his tie, and the ad on the back of the book he's reading. Details, folks, it's all in the details.

Most of his subjects are from the media - various movies and celebrities. It's a very entertaining portfolio to peruse.

Who likes a good riddle? Tell me, which door leads to taxidermy: the one labelled "art", "antiques", "jewelry" or "taxidermy"?

If you said all of them, you win!

Let's start with the 1930's vintage top hat (pictured right). The hat is described as such:

A Victorian inspired framed squirrel taxidermy memento mori piece on the side with a genuine preserved squirrel tail accent in place of a traditional feather. The frame is set on a blood red burgundy velvet backing with genuine taxidermy squirrel feet, a gold genuine squirrel heart and handmade calalily flowers.

Like most children of India in the little village of Bihar, Subodh Gupta grew up carrying a tiffin pot (a three-tiered tin) containing his lunch. Unlike his peers, he became a world class artist and used those same tiffin pots to create Very Hungry God (pictured left).

Many of Gupta's sculptures are made with cooking utensils and other mundane, common household items.

His life is an honest-to-goodness story of rags to riches full of determination, conflict, and even a shady plot point to keep you interested.

I'd send you to the artist's website, but he doesn't appear to have one. Granted, I'm a bit pressed for time today so I didn't dig too far down in my search.

The plan was to do a quick blog and then get on with the day. If that was my intent, I never should have chosen Eliza Gauger as my subject.

Upon arrival to her website you're greeted with the illusion of an E drive command/shell window secretly acting as her navigation menu.

I wish the command prompt worked because it reminds me of War Operation Plan Response (is a War Games reference too obscure these days?). I'm almost convinced if I type in Global Thermonuclear War the computer will speak to me and ask if I'd rather play a game of chess.

I think I just met my nerd-quota for the day.

Eliza is an artist who dabbles in both oil and acrylic, digital paintings, and photographs. First and foremost she seems to consider herself an illustrator. I use the word seems because trying to find straightforward answers in regard to her personal bio can be challenging, though she is present across the Web.